Nepticulidae familiak ezagutzen diren sits txikienetako batzuk ditu, 3-8 mm-ko hegal-muturretik hegal-puntura bitartekoa. Konparazio baterako goiko bi sits irudikatu ditut: ezagutzen den handiena – Coscinocera herculeshorrek ia balantza makurtzen du 9 zentimetroak, eta txikienetako bat (bai, Herkules sitsaren azpian dagoen puntu txiki hori) – Ektoedemia rubifoliella, behean ere irudia. Nepticulidoak harrigarriro askotarikoak dira, baino gehiagorekin 800 deskribatutako espezieak soilik ordezkatzen dituztenak 10% benetako aniztasunarena (Powell, 2009). Estatu Batuetan bakarrik daukagu 80 Espezie, horietatik 25 mendebaldetik ezagutzen dira. Aniztasun hori konparatzen duzunean 100 edo Britainia Handitik ezagutzen diren espezieak, argi dago AEBen ezagutza ikaragarri falta dela. Benetan, baino gehiago 80% nepticulidoen aniztasun guztia Europatik bakarrik ezagutzen da. Inbertsio bitxia neotropikoak oraindik izan dituzten munduko ekosistemarik anitzenak direla kontuan hartuta 74 Nepticulidae espezie ezagunak! (Trazua, 2000). Zergatik da hau horrela?
Ektoedemia rubifoliella 3.3mm
Stigmella ostryaefoliella 3.1mm
Europako aniztasuna erraz azal daiteke lepidoptero aspertuen kontzentrazio handia dela eta. Fauna holarktikoa ez da anitzena eta, beraz, planetan ondoen ulertzen dena bihurtu da, zer esanik ez, ehunka urteko jaun-entomologoen historia luzea izan dutela. Baina Nepticulidoen gainerako aniztasunak misterio bat izaten jarraitzen du, benetan direlako, benetan txiki, zabaltzen zaila, eta zaila da heldu gisa identifikatzea! Egia esan, praktika edo arrakasta gutxi izan dut Nepticulidae muntatzeko, eta goiko aleak Dr. Dave Wagner. Nire bilduman ditudan gutxi batzuk ainguratuta eta zabaldu gabe daude; eta finkatzea ere nahikoa gogorra da eskuaren irristatze batek ale osoa ezaba dezakeenean. Dirudienez, muntatzeko metodorik onena izozkailuan bota eta bizirik dauden bitartean ainguratzea da.. Ez gizatiarrena, baina modu bakarra da sitsa begien aurrean lehor ez dadin eta manipulatzea ezinezkoa bilakatzea. Helduak kudeatzea bezain zaila, larbak nahiko ezaugarriak dira, gehienak hosto-meatzariak direlako – materialaz elikatzen dira artean hostoen epidermisak. Honek izen arruntari ematen dio “hosto blotch meatzariak” sitsak «eraztutako adabaki zeharrargiak» ikus daitezkeelako’ hosto barrutik atera. Espezie bakoitza ostalariaren espezifikoa ez ezik, baina hostoaren barruan meatze-eredu oso bereizgarriak eratu ohi dituzte. Beraz, hosto meategi bat aurkitzen baduzu eta landare espeziea ezagutzen baduzu, litekeena da bere barnean dagoen Nepticulido espeziea aurki dezakezula (hala ere hosto-meategi guztiak ez dira neptikulidoak, beste intsektu asko daude hori ere egiten dutenak). Sits horiek haztea ere nahiko erraza da, hostoa poltsa batean sartu eta sitsak elikatzen amaitu arte itxaron besterik ez duzu egin behar. Beldar batek hosto bakarra behar du (edo hosto zati txikia) – baina kontuz ibili behar da hostoa berde mantentzeko beldarra elikatzen den bitartean. Hostoa hiltzen bada, halaxe izango da beldarra. Meategiak eta ez helduak identifikatzeko gaitasun paradoxiko hori dela eta, ikerketa ekologiko ugari egiten da., batez ere, gutxi batzuek labore komertzialei mehatxuak eragiten dizkietelako. Beheko lehen irudiak argi eta garbi erakusten du beldarraren elikadura hostoaren barruan – eta utzi duen arrastoaren arrastoa.
Meategien goiko irudiei erreparatuz gero ez da hain zaila fosilizazio gisako egiturak imajinatzea. Eta harrigarria, dute! Beheko lehen irudia (Labandeira et al., 1994) hostoen meatzaritza ugari erakusten ditu Nepticulidae meategiak (eta Gracillariidae bat) Kretazeo erdialdetik (97 Duela milioi urte). Hosto-meategien gauza ikusgarria da genero mailara eta batzuetan espeziera ere jaistea. Nepticulidoen generoak bereizteko gai izan ziren egileek Estigmella eta Ektoedemia fosiletan gordetako ereduetan oinarrituta; Gaur egun oraindik genero bereizten laguntzeko erabiltzen ditugun ereduak. Beheko ilustrazioa Japonian aurkitutako meategi batekoa da 8 milioi urte (Kuroko, 1987).
garbitzailea, C. (1994). Laurogeita hamazazpi milioi urte Angiospermo-Intsektuen Elkartea: Koeboluzioaren esanahiari buruzko ikuspegi paleobiologikoak Zientzia Akademia Nazionalaren aktak, 91 (25), 12278-12282 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.91.25.12278
IKUSUA, R., DISHKUS, A., ROBINSON, G., & OHOREA, G. (2002). Nepticulidae neotropikalen berrikuspena eta kontrol-zerrenda (Lepidoptera) Historia Naturaleko Museoaren Buletina. Entomologia Seriea, 71 (01) DOI: 10.1017/S0968045402000032
Powell, J.A., Opler, P.A. (2010). Ipar Amerikako mendebaldeko sitsak – egilea: J. Batek. Powell eta P. Batek. Opler Entomologia Sistematikoa, 35 (2), 347-347 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3113.2010.00525.x
Hasieran Kanbriarreko itsasoetan (542-488 Duela milioi urte) had a plethora ofstrange and bizarre creaturesalmost unimaginable to even the best sci-fi dreamer. Ziurrenik Arthropoda izateko aitzindari bat bezala (halaber Onychophora eta Tardigrada), the lobopodian leinu talde bitxi bat adierazten “hankak zizareak” that once roamed the ancient sea beds. Exactly how close they are to the true arthropods is up for debate (tree below), but this newly discovered genus and species, Diania cactiformis(walking cactus), represents the most well sclerotized and arthropod-like of any known to date.
This whopping two and a half inch monster helps us understand the transition from a soft bodied worm like creature into a hard-shelled arthropod; it also gives a better impression of how diverse these lobopodian appendages may have been. It’s a fascinating question because the advantage of jointed, sclerotized, limbs was one that exploded and diversified amongst the creatures we know today. Exactly how this happened is not any closer to being resolved, but it appears as if the legs of this animal were sclerotized before the body (arthropodization vs. arthrodization). One small fossil discovered and yet another small insight into evolutionary history.
Erreferentziak
Liu, J., Steiner, M., Dunlop, J., Keupp, H., Shu, D., Ou, Q., Han, J., Zhang, Z., & Zhang, X. (2011). An armoured Cambrian lobopodian from China with arthropod-like appendagesNature, 470 (7335), 526-530 DOI: 10.1038/nature09704
Oops, looks like I missed my first ‘blogoversary’! Monday the 21st was the one year turning point for my blog; and I’m incredibly happy to have spent the last year sharing some of my ramblings with all of you. I’ve somewhat lost track of how many hits I’ve had since I moved everything over to The Southern Fried Science Network, but it’s more than I ever could have ever imagined as a newbie blogger twelve months ago. When I look over the last year a few posts come to mind as my favorite:
Shockingly, stunningly, amazingly; du monarchs are back (but not co-staring Julianne Moore). Ados, it’s not that amazing; I pretty much predictedthis would be the case last March when everyone was running around terrified because the butterflies hit an all time low (since counting startedurtean 1993). Actually I believe I said “I will bet anything on the population making a recovery in the years to come…”. Beraz, how about anything = beer, and who’s buying?
Perhaps I am celebrating a bit early. Maybe the news isn’t so good that I can run a victory lap quite yet, but preliminary surveys look like the overwintering populations have doubled this year. That’s a pretty good start, but we still haven’t hit the 18 year average (not an impressive statistic). But don’t misread my intentions – I’m not claiming this one year somehow has proven the decline insignificant. It may or may not be, all we can really say is that it’s just another data point. The fact is that our dataset is very weak and there are factors such as local weather that create massive margins of error. It’s also nearly impossible to extrapolate from what little data we do have. So is the monarch a very good “canary in the coal mine”?
I would say poor at best. How is one insect species that roosts in massive singular colonies a good indicator of our ecosystem? Bai, they migrate from all reaches of North America, but their recent high mortality rates have nothing to do with the lives they lived outside of Mexico. Perhaps if millions of butterflies died of some strange toxin we could heed the warning, but such was not the case. Those poor monarchs are at the mercy of winter storms that are likely to become more frequent with a warming climate. So can we say that climate change is negatively impacting these animals? Turns out we can’t, at least not yet. If this were to be so then our data is telling us that the1996-1997 seasonwas a really healthy one where clouds of pollution parted and nature rejoiced. Did the 2010 season then become a post apocalyptic blade-runner-esque world where acid rain melted the orange off of butterfly wings? Clearly not. Neither climate nor pollution were drastically different in those years. The monarchs just had a really good year followed by some really bad ones. Maybe we should just find a better canary if we’re trying to blow the whistle on global warming or deforestation.
As a last thought here is a video from the above story. Just as you’d expect, it’s over dramatized and a bit hilarious.
A softball for this GOP challenge. This image comes care of the Victoria Advocate (TX paper) – batekin poorly written article about butterflies. This image flop is pretty easy, but for extra points who can tell me what else is incorrect in the text?
I’ve uploaded a new header as you can see – how does it look? I’m playing around with the settings, but please let me know if the moth on the right gets cropped awkwardly, and what your screen resolution is if that is the case.
If you happen to be living out in Yolo, Solano or Sacramento counties you should head out with a net. Dr. Art Shaprio has offered for the 40th year hiscabbage white butterfly competition. If you are the very first person to catch a cabbage white (Pieris rapae – invasive) before Dr. Shapiro he will buy you a pitcher of beer! You have to deliver the specimenaliveto the receptionist in the Department of Evolution and Ecology to confirm the identification (I assume to prove you didn’t just save last year’s dead butterfly and cheat).
Over the last 30 years the butterflies have been emerging earlier – two weeks on average now. You better hurry, the first cabbage white of 2010 was collected on January 27th.
I did, and it sounds like it was written by Sarah Palin. Benetan, I came across this meta analysis of over 22,000 horoscopes over onInformation is Beautiful. It’s spectacular – but I’ll run down a few points here:
From these 22,000 horoscopes came a chart of the most common words (bottom), 90% of which happen to be exactly the same regardless of your sign. David McCandless also generated a meta prediction using these most common words. It goes something like this.
“Ready? Noski? Whatever the situation or secret moment enjoy everything a lot. Feel able to absolutely care. Expect nothing else. Keep making love. Family and friends matter. The world is life, fun and energy. Maybe hard. Or easy. Taking exactly enough is best. Help and talk to others. Change your mind and a better mood comes along…“
Everyone, hopefully, should know that horoscopes and astrology have always been steaming piles. Seeing the data like this just makes it that much easier to laugh in the face of wackiness. I also love McCandless’s interpretation of star traits. I’m a “gemini” (or at least was), and the most common words for me are “party, stay, issues and listen certainly”. Interpreted as “emotionally disturbed party animal who never says no”. Love it.
You might have also heard recently about thescandalous storyof wrong star assignments. As it turns out our earth wobbles slightly in orbit; meaning the stars are not exactly where they are in the night sky tonight as they were a few millennia ago when the zodiac was first derived. So if the stars mold who you are at birth then they do so based on where they are now and not 2,000 years ago. Surprise – many people should now be assigned to a new sign! Oooohscandal! The science of astrology didn’t even come close to predicting this (it greatly pained me to even mockingly call astrology science). But that’s OK it won’t perturb them, they are well adapt at dodging hard science and spinning BS, and have been doing so for hundreds of years. Back in 1781 astronomers threw a wrench at the heads of astrologers with the discovery of Uranus – and a generation later Neptune appeared on the scene. Oh don’t worry! Astrologers fudged their own numbers, whined about different “charts and systems” and snuck in two extra star signs to agree with the world as science understood it. Aupa, and never mind the rest of the billion, billion stars and planets…
Yet, I can still hear a faint cry down the street here in Berkeley – someone slaps hand to head and exclaims “oh now it makes sense, I was a Taurusguztiak along!”
You should go explore his blog and take a closer look at the analysis. Better oraindik, if you have a friend who loves their astrology, you should forward this in their direction.
Beti izan dut ezagutzen munduko leku askotan, batez irabiatutako pista off, moths eta beldarrak tximeleta menuan dira. Bertatik Afrika ra beraz, ezin dut esan hamaika espezie daude nahikoa jangarriak edo are goxoak izateko nahiko ona izan dezaketenak. Baina hemen AEBetan intsektuak oso gutxitan sartzen dira gure mahaietara (ez behintzat gure jakinaren gainean) – baina noizean behin gure botiletan sartu. Ziur zuetako askok tekila botilaren hondoan dagoen harra ikusi duzula: hau da, hain zuzen, Kosidaren sitsaren beldarra Hypotpa agavis. Mexikoko langile migratzaileak bertako landareak zulatzen dituztela ere entzun dut bazkaltzeko atsedenaldian erlazionatutako sits baten larba arrosa handiei mokadu egiteko.; seguruenik generoan Komedia. Aurretik ezagutu arren, Pixka bat harritu ninduen Mexiko osoan oinarrizko elikagai-iturri gisa erabiltzen diren lepidopteroen aniztasun masiboa eztabaidatzen duen azken artikulu batek..
For this issue of the genius of the press, who can tell me what’s wrong withArtikulu honetan? It’s pretty subtle, but a clear mistake, especially for LiveScience.
Ektoedemia rubifoliella 3.3mm
Stigmella ostryaefoliella 3.1mm
Stigmella aceris (irudi-krediturako esteka)
Stigmella paradoxa (irudi-krediturako esteka)
(Labanderia, 1994)
(Kuroko, 1987)
